“unity and diversity”
[A sermon for Pentecost]
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A sermon preached at a united Readings: Ephesians
3:14-21, Acts 2:1-13 |
Acts 2:6 “…Each
one heard them speaking in their own native language”
Today
is Pentecost Sunday.
We
recall this miraculous speaking in which everyone hears
these unlettered North country fishermen –
hardly professors of linguistics any of them -
speaking all the languages of the known world.
This
amazing event is symbolic of the power of the Spirit.
In
an ecumenical service such as this I am conscious
that there may be here those for whom “speaking in tongues”
is a regular part of your personal spiritual experience –
in which case you will not need sermons from me
on the significance of this passage for you.
But
for many of us, for whom “speaking with tongues”
is not part of our spirituality,
I would suggest that this passage can still speak to us powerfully
about the work of the Spirit.
It
reminds us how the Holy Spirit is,
·
in John Taylor’s famous phrase, a “Go-Between God”,
God at work breaking down barriers between individuals
with love and understanding,
·
bringing us together in the “Fellowship of the Holy Spirit”,
·
breaking down barriers between people and their God,
opening them up to God and his word to them.
But
note –
The
miracle is not an Esperanto miracle.
It
wasn’t that everyone abandoned their own language
and instead spoke and understood
in some special religious hybrid language.
It
wasn’t a miracle in which everyone
conformed to the same set of linguistic rules
No
– everyone still heard their own language
and heard the Gospel in their own tongue.
Pentecost
is not about uniformity: it is about Unity in Diversity-
The Medes and the Elamites
may hear and understand each other,
but they remain Medes and Elamites, speaking their
own languages.
It
is about the richness and diversity of human culture
combined with the unity of common understanding
So
what does all this have to say to us today??
1. Unity and
Diversity in the Church
In
Churches Together in Central Exeter we find different Church cultures
– Methodist, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Quaker, Baptist,
United Reformed, Salvation Army, Community Church –
And
at Pentecost we call on the Spirit to bind us together
in the unity of God’s people.
But
being at one with them in love and peace
does not mean we have to do everything the same –
we remain Medes and Elamites
Colin Morris has spent his whole Minsitry
as an often vehement support of ecumenism –
but in recent piece he argues equally strongly
that unity does not mean uniformity -
(in the
Methodist Recorder 2001 quoted by Simon Barrow) -
The world is no more sold on a single church
than it would be on a single television channel,
superstore or political party.
I have never really understood what is meant by the ‘sin’ of disunity.
Certainly, backbiting exclusiveness and factionalism are sins,
but they are much more likely to be found
within rather than between denominations.
The glory of being human is that we enjoy
a wide diversity of tastes, aptitudes and perceptions
about everything under the sun,
yet the claim is that if our
apprehension of God is not uniform,
we are in error…
So
let us Medes and Elamites rejoice in our diversity –
not seeking to make everyone do things “our way”
but rather seeking to share and value
different ways of being Church and sharing the Gospel.
This week they have been talking about doing a face
transplant.
It
is an odd thought isn’t it –
some worry that people will feel their individuality has been taken away
if they get someone else’s face.
But
the doctors say that the way the face fitted your head
would be distinctive and depend on your head shape –
In other words the person will take someone else’s
face
but they will still reflect their own individual person. -
their face will be a new face reflecting the donor and
the recipient.
So
as Christians we are all called in the power of the Spirit to “put on Christ” –
not to become cardboard cut-outs, but to become something new and distinctive –
a truly Christ-like version of ourselves.
2. Unity and
Diversity in Mission
It is interesting to compare Islam and Christianity
when it comes to the use of language.
Islam
has always felt the necessity to teach the Quran in Arabic –
and so has taken Arabic culture and language wherever it has gone.
Having worked in the inner city in the West
Midlands,
I have to say that I have been deeply impressed
by the local Islamic community there,
as I saw day by day young children leaving school
and going straight to the Mosque for lessons in Arabic and the Quran.
I sometimes wondered how many takers I would have had
had I offered a daily class in New Testament Greek for
7 year olds.
We have much to learn from Islamic culture and
spirituality.
But,
having said that, I rejoice that
(unlike our Moslem sisters and brothers)
Christians (perhaps reflecting the Pentecost story),
have for many centuries now translated the Bible into local tongues –
more than 1800 to date -
and in so doing have affirmed the need
to plant the gospel in the local earth of indigenous cultures.
Affirming the diversity of cultures and our unity in Christ.
And in a very real
sense,
we thus repeat the miracle of Pentecost across the globe.
Jesus healed the sick
with miraculous touch –
we often heal by discovering medical knowledge and training and employing
doctors.
Just so, translation was at Pentecost a miracle -
we now often communicate
by learning languages, writing dictionaries, and doing translations -
all equally part of the Spirit’s work.
We need to remember to do the translation.
That is not only true in
taking the Gospel to foreign nations.
Even speaking in this country to those outside the Church tradition,
we have to be careful to speak their language not ours -
We need to be
understandable to Medes and Elamites –
but also to English folk who are not familiar with complex theological
concepts.
We do not usually best communicate the
Gospel
by walking up and down with a sandwich board
announcing that if our sins are to be atoned for,
we must be washed in the blood of the Lamb.
We need to translate, find words, for our
contemporary culture –
explain our faith in meaningful terms –
in this way again the miracle of Pentecost is repeated
in our own streets and back yards.
3. Unity and Diversity in the World
The
Spirit of course was at work from the start of Creation,
and we find him at work not only in the Church but across the world.
Indeed
insofar as the Church becomes
a Spirit filled community of love acceptance and understanding,
we are simply being a model of what God wants for the whole world.
I was talking to someone recently who had been
working on an aid project in East Africa.
He said that they arrived at a small village in the bush
with just a circle of huts.
The people came to greet them –
half of them wearing Arsenal strip
and asking questions about the recent form of Thierry Henry.
It
is good that in such situations we can find common ground as sisters and
brothers
It
is sad if we lose our distinctive identities in the global village.
We
need to think these things through politically.
·
When David Blunkett says that immigrants
should shift themselves
to learn English language and customs.
we need to balance the need for community across our
country
and the need to respect and honour the rich diversity of cultures.
·
When we are asked to vote in the European elections.
we need to do the same thing –
balance the need for community across Europe (that war should be no more)
whilst also respecting and honouring the diversity of cultural heritages,
be they British, French, Latvian or whatever…
Such
issues are the stuff of unity and diversity.
The
unity of the Church is just a start –
It should lead is to the unity of the world.
The
Spirit seeks to do this –
We
pray that he will inspire our Church and our world.
We need a new language of the Spirit
Unity
in Diversity –
across our Churches, across our nation, across our continent -
Reworking the Miracle of Pentecost is a big challenge.
But
the Spirit empowered the first miracle,
and he can empower another if we will let him.
He
will empower us with a new language
which is the stuff of miracles, through which all this may be done.
The
Spirit inspires us with a new language of love and forgiveness.
“Forgiveness, love and understanding
form a language which everyone understands and needs to hear.
That is the language we are invited to speak
and the promise is that when we speak it
people will recognise it as their own language.
They can truly say that we are speaking their language
because it is the language
which has no boundaries,
and no special dictionaries are needed to understand it.
It is the language of the Spirit.”
(Denis McBride, Seasons of
the Word)
May
we speak that language in God’s power,
that all his people may hear and be one.